Local Youth Plea for Peace in New Music Video

Members of Hayward-based Youth for Peace, a program that empowers young people through music, recently released a music video urging youth to end violence in our communities.

The song, “Thoughts from Above,” features local artists from Union City, Hayward, Castro Valley and surrounding cities rapping from the perspective of lives lost to violence.

It serves as a dedication to 21-year-old Darrell Lamar Armstrong, who was gunned down in Oakland on Dec. 28. Armstrong’s brother, De’Vaughn Glaze, is one of Youth for Peace’s most active members since 2010.

“We wrote the song and filmed the music video to encourage people to think about their actions and understand the consequences of their behavior before it is too late,” Glaze said in a statement.

The song serves as a call to action in response to the Bay Area’s crime rate, Oakland’s in particular. According to data from the Oakland Police Department, there were 1,594 shootings reported in Oakland in 2011. Of those, 143 of the shooting victims were 17-years-old or younger.

The song, recorded at Hayward’s Studio92, is written and performed by local artists such as Jay Clarks, Mae Muldez, Aaron Jaquez and Mike Smith.

“This song is about lost dreams and opportunities,” Jaquez said in a statement. “It was hard to write this song. We had to think about what we would have missed out on — from graduating to not being able to live and have our own kids to what we didn’t get to say to our loved ones, especially my mom.”

Watch the music video above.

To learn more about Youth for Peace, click here.